John Page Guitars

Hello everyone, we had a great question sent to the website a few days ago so in response – here goes nothing!  Remember, if you have anything you’d like discussed in this forum feel free to shoot us an e-mail at feedback@fraidknot.ca.  We’ll have Glenn respond to this one.

This question came from Matt in Sudbury, ON.

Hey there , I caught your show when I was visiting out west a couple of months ago.  It was killer!  I did have a quick question, I’m a guitarist shopping for a high end electric and was wondering what that cool, extremely green guitar your guy was using on stage that night.  It looked and sounded amazing.  If you could give me some details on it, I’d really appreciate it.  

Thanks!

Hey Matt, thanks for the message.  I’m afraid you’ve opened up a bit of a can of worms with that question….lol  I’m a gear head and don’t cut corners on any end of my rig. What I would’ve been playing that night was my favorite, my John Page P1-SV (aptly nicknamed “The Celt”).

John has major lineage behind his product.  I think he started with Fender in the 70’s working his way through production, R&D and finally returning to this great company as the co-founder of the Custom Shop when it opened up in the 80’s.  The “Page-era” CS guitars are still the ones that seem to be the most coveted when you do see them on the block so that’s saying something I suppose.  John started building his own guitars under his own name back around 5 or 6 years ago I think?  I stumbled on to his stuff (which was then EXTREMELY new) while researching a “Master-Built” Fender CS tele and was nearly ripped off twice doing distance deals from scams.  Luckily I walked away from those unscathed.  At that point I shot John an e-mail inquiring as to what he was building, costs, delivery dates, etc.  Then he was only building the P1, which is the same body design as mine, except chambered.  I wasn’t after that type of tone as our music and my style (or lack thereof ) really needs a quick attack due to the nutty tempo of a lot of our songs.  Not to mention I’ve always been a “tele” guy (since I’ve grown up and stopped liking guitars with lots of dumb angles all over them) so that was the tone I wanted.  I LOVE that single coil, super bright, sharp attack – as John calls it “the ice-pick factor”.  That’s just my sound.  We discussed that he was developing a solid body version and if I wanted to go for that, he’d build it out for me.  Perfect!

Specs wise, it’s an ash body with an absolutely perversely figured quilt maple top, maple neck (which is done in Tru-Oil not lacquer at my request), Brazilian R/W fingerboard, pick-up’s by John Suhr, gorgeous neck inlay designed by John and done by Ron Thorn (who’s brilliant btw).  Really, it’s the absolute most incredible instrument I’ve ever experienced – nothing else has ever come close (except my other JP Guitar….lol)  Here’s a picture for a better look.

I’m a firm believer in the whole “Gucci-guitar” world these days and so much prefer dealing with the smaller guys then the big companies.  To be honest I don’t think there’s one thing in my live rig that’s really mass-market.  The attention to detail, attention to their customers, customer support – not to mention you get EXACTLY what you want (hopefully).  There’s no need to compromise on anything.  The only drawbacks that I can think of is the wait time and the fact that you’re really taking a leap of faith when you enter into this type of deal so be choosy!   It’s not unusual to have to wait 2 years for delivery but man it’s so worth it…

I have a second instrument from John, a DLS which is kind of a three single coil stratish kind of an instrument that kicks as well.  We’re currently in the process of designing a dream instrument of mine as well which will be a mandolin/6 string double neck.  It’s a ways off, but will be uber-cool when it shows up!

If you’re ever in the market for a high-end electric I can’t recommend John highly enough.  He will build out exactly what you’re looking for in an instrument and the costs are surprisingly good – comparable to a few off the rack, extremely popular electrics and honestly – there’ s no comparison. Check out John’s site at www.johnpageguitars.com and see what I mean.  It’s a great one to drool over the amazing pics.  Good luck in your quest Matt – hope you find something that blows your mind!

Cheers,

GW.

← Back to News